Reinhard Heydrich (7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was the Deputy Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia from 29 September 1941 to 4 June 1942, succeeding Konstantin von Neurath and preceding Kurt Daluege. Heydrich served as Adolf Hitler's third-in-command during World War II, and he was known for his brutality; he was one of the masterminds of the Holocaust, and he was also nicknamed "the Butcher of Prague" for massacring Czechoslovakian civilians.
Biography[]
Heydrich meeting Heinrich Himmler
Reinhard Heydrich was born in Halle an der Saale, Saxony-Anhalt, German Empire on 7 March 1904, the son of a Protestant father and a Catholic mother. Heydrich joined the SS in 1932 and, thanks to Heinrich Himmler's support, enjoyed a meteoric rise. Heydrich was the founder of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) intelligence organization, which sought out and neutralized resistance to Nazi Germany via arrests, deportations, and murders, and he was also responsible for organizing the Kristallnacht pogroms of 1938. He was nicknamed "the Man with the Iron Heart" by Adolf Hitler due to his heartlessness. In 1941, he was the leader of the Einsatzgruppen, death squads that took part in the mass murder of 1,300,000 Soviet Jews during Operation Barbarossa.
Anthropoid[]
Heydrich after being wounded
Heydrich was a dedicated Nazi and attended the Wannsee Conference of January 1942, where he was given the job of implementing the Final Solution. He also concurrently served as Deputy Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, and he suppressed Czech culture and deported and executed members of the Czechoslovak Resistance. Heydrich became infamous for his cruel methods, and he was nicknamed "the Butcher of Prague". He was ambushed in Prague in late May 1942 by Czech resistance fighters during Operation Anthropoid, and he later died from his wounds. It is believed that Heydrich was being considered as Hitler's successor. In response, the villages of Lidice and Lezaky were razed, and all men and boys over the age of 16 were shot, and all but a handful of women and children were deported and killed in concentration camps.
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